Robinho and Everton give Mancini the Hughes blues

Everton 2 Manchester city 0

It was not the fancy footwork Robinho showed in shamelessly ducking out of a challenge with Marouane Fellaini that left the biggest impression, but rather Roberto Mancini’s response as he turned on the heels of his expensive designer brogues and stomped off towards the dugout in disgust.

This was not just a belated welcome to the Premier League for Manchester City manager Mancini. This was a welcome to the infuriating realities of Mark Hughes’s world. Victories over Stoke, Wolves and Blackburn were one thing, but Mancini will have learnt far more about his players here as they were steamrollered by a wonderful Everton side who are a match for any team right now.

“We have some problems,” said Mancini. He was talking about injuries, but he could easily have been addressing the bigger picture . That Robinho should be central to his manager’s list of complaints is hardly a surprise. Mancini’s decision to haul him off after he was embarrassed by Fellaini, having only sent him on as an early substitute for the injured Roque Santa Cruz, illustrated how he has quickly arrived at the same conclusion as his predecessor.

The repercussions are likely to rumble on, however. “It sends a message out and he was brave to do that,” said former England and City manager Kevin Keegan. “Robinho will get on the bus back to Manchester and think, ‘I have no future here’.”

Everton did not just teach their opponents a lesson on the pitch – backing up exhilarating football with an unstinting work ethic – but off it also.

Moyes had written an acerbic column in the match-day programme, claiming that City had acted with “no class” in their successful, if tawdry, pursuit of Joleon Lescott back in August and will have cherished a victory that was the reward for steady improvement more than most. It says much about chairman Bill Kenwright’s style of leadership that when Moyes led his team through a spell of just one win in 11 matches in October and November he did not even flinch.

In the same circumstances, City counterpart Khaldoon Al Mubarak, egged on by Garry Cook and Brian Marwood no doubt, would have posted a P45.

Steven Pienaar’s perfectly executed free-kick and Louis Saha’s penalty after the brainless Micah Richards had tried to swap shirts just before the break exposed a gulf in approach and attitude that would have become a chasm had Fellaini and Tim Cahill not seen headers thud against the crossbar.

“The football is fantastic but the work-rate, the desire to play was the difference with us and Manchester City,” said Cahill.